House Democrats scale back spending in Colorado

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats are canceling $1.4 million in television advertising in Colorado as their chance at upending a Republican congressman has diminished.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had targeted Republican Rep. Mike Coffman and invested considerable funds to boost the candidacy of Andrew Romanoff, a former state House speaker. A Democratic official said Friday that spending planned for the final two weeks of the race would be spent elsewhere.

Democrats are facing millions of dollars in spending by outside groups and need the money to help save incumbents in Georgia, West Virginia, Illinois, New Hampshire and California. The party is adding television advertising time in those states as well as Florida, where Gwen Graham, daughter of former Sen. Bob Graham, is locked in a close race with Republican Rep. Steve Southerland.

The decision to shift the money out of Colorado comes one day after Democrats scaled back their buy in Virginia, where they hope to win the open seat held by retiring Rep. Frank Wolf. Democrat John Foust is facing Republican Barbara Comstock in that contest.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the individual was not authorized to discuss the ad buy publicly.

Earlier this week, Democrats pumped more money into competitive races to protect four incumbents in Minnesota, Illinois and New York while cutting back spending on once-promising takeover opportunities in California, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

The party also increased its spending on two Republican-held seats in Nebraska and Iowa that represent some of the Democrats' best chances to win on GOP turf.

Republicans are widely expected to hold their House majority and add seats. Democrats are trying to hold down their losses in the sixth year of President Barack Obama's tenure, when the party controlling the White House typically loses seats.

House Republicans currently hold 233 seats to 199 for the Democrats with three vacancies.